Chaos always prompts us to search for something solid. Confronted by the upheaval of economic reckoning, ecological exhaustion, and existential uncertainty, our souls are reaching for anything tangible and true. We want what’s real. That’s the core message of Ryan Levesque, a seven-time Inc. 5000 CEO who walked away from his former life to move with his family to a farm in Vermont. He joins Michael and Megan to talk about his book Return to Real and how we can respond wisely to the hunger felt in our souls and in the marketplace within an artificial, digital age. He unpacks how we can craft moments—at work and at home—that reward what makes us uniquely human. Because that’s what we’re all longing and looking for.
Memorable Quotes
- “The double craving—what your body, your heart, what your spirit is starving for right now—is also what much of the market is starving for. And when you can find the intersection… there’s economic opportunity. What’s good for your biology can also be good for your bottom line.”
- “The last decade, in many ways, in business was a story about dopamine… ‘Create an app that’s addictive so people keep coming back to it.’ But if we look at most of the maladies of modern life—loneliness, disconnection—they are symptoms of a lack of the neurotransmitter oxytocin. Oxytocin is a neurotransmitter of trust, of love.”
- “We’re swimming in this sea of artificial everything, and we’re seeking truth. We live in an era of a default state of distrust… We no longer trust our eyes and ears, our sensory experience, when we are experiencing the world through a screen.”
- “The truth is in the tension. It’s not ‘Throw AI in a bin.’ It’s not ‘Go 100% analog.’ It’s about picking the right moments and the right places to insert it.”
- “People will pay for work that’s been attached to a real human life… When people see the work and the effort that’s gone into something, they value it. That’s the provenance premium.”
- “Just because the technology is capable of doing something doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s how we should be using that technology.”
- “I tell my kids all the time: ‘Choose your hard, otherwise your hard will choose you.’ What we’ve done and what we’re doing is not easy… but all things in life worth doing are hard.”
- “If you are not analog by design, you will become digital by default… There are trillion-dollar technology companies that will not stop until every moment of human attention has been consumed and monetized… So if you're not fighting against those forces actively… then you will be consumed by the digital vortex.”
Key Takeaways
- Your Craving and Your Market’s Are the Same. What your body and spirit want right now also reflect what much of your market wants. That double longing reveals economic opportunity.
- Optimize for Oxytocin. Dopamine has long been stealing the headlines, but the neurotransmitter of the next decade is oxytocin, which signals trust and love. How can you make your business more human?
- Don’t Advertise Your AI. Deploy AI away from customer-facing environments. The technology we use helps power what’s possible, but the work people value is attached to human effort and human lives.
- Defying Digital Requires Intention. In a world built on and by technology where trillions are spent on directing our attention, we must seek out ways to reintegrate what’s real—to choose analog by design.
- A Rhythm You Can Try Today. Slowing for a few moments can shift an entire day. Ryan Levesque suggests a simple resolution from Ali Jafarian: Touch earth before touching a screen.
Resources
This episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound
